Printing press gauge



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E. MEMMLER PRINTING PRESS GAUGE Filed April 5, 1932 mmm June 6, 1933.

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lratented June 6, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EUGENE MEMMLER, F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA PRINTING PRESS GAUGE Application led .April 5,

' This invention relates to printing presses, and more particularly to the adjustment of the inking rollers to proper position for the v proper inking of forms for printing.

An object of the invention is to provide a gauge which may be locked in the form with the type and thus held securely against the bed of the press in the same manner as the type, the gauge being provided with impression surfaces of different heights on the top face so that when the printing press is put into motion the inking rollers will deposit ink on all the surfaces they come in contact with, whereby adjustment of the rollers may be made until an ink deposit is made on those surfaces beginning with that particular surface bearing numerals indicating the preferred clearance between the bed of the press and the inking rollers to the end 20 that guess work in adjustment will be eliminated and poor inking entirely obviated.

A further object is to provide a gauge of the class described which will have a stepped top face providing impression surfaces, and

will have the impression surfaces separated by transversed grooves which perform the twofold function of separating the surfaces so that they will be more readily distinguished one from the other and also preventing ink from collecting in the corners between the surfaces to the end that the sur faces will be constantly clearly and distinctly defined and their corresponding numerals, preferably reading thousandths of an inch, easily read.

Vith the above and other objects in view the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed inking rollers is accomplished by adjusting 1932. Serial No. 603,292.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification,

Figure l is a plan view of a printing press form equipped with a pair of the guages,

Figure 2 .is a side elevation of the gauge,

Figure 3 lis a plan view of the gauge, andA Figure 4 is an end elevationof the gauge.

Ordinarily, in any printing press which prints direct from type, the setting of the the inking rollers into position against the ink table until the width of the impression on theink table is about ML in width and the entire length of the roller across the table. Repeated adjustments are made until the desired impression is obtained. At best there is little accuracy in the method of adjusting the rollers due to the lack of precision gauges for determining the impression, since what is l/4 to one man is B/S to another. The guess work in setting and the resultant poor inking due to inaccurate setting is eliminated by the present invention.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing in which like characters of reference des-y ignate similar parts in the various views, l0

, designates a type form, 11 the quoins, 12 the wood furniture, and 13 the type, these parts being of the usual and well known construction used in all printing presses which print direct from type. As usual the form is placed on the bed of the press underneath the inking rollers which supply ink to the type.

In carrying out the invention I provide a pair of gauges 14 which are adapted to be locked in the form with the type laterally of the type, as shown in Figure l, and are used by the pressman to test the clearance between the inking rollers and the bed of the print-- ing press.

Each gauge 14 consists of a bar of suitable metal either solid or skeleton and preferably having opposit-e parallel sides 15 and a bottom 16 perpendicular to the sideswhereby- 90 the bar may be locked in the form with the type and be supported on the bed of the press in the same manner as the type. The top face of the bar is provided with a plurality of steps 17 of different heights, the steps preferably increasing progressively in height from one end of the gauge to the opposite end thereof and each being parallel with the bottom 16 of the gauge. As best shown in Figure 3, each step is etched or otherwise provided with a corresponding numeral to indicate the height of the step, the numerals being preferably in thousandths of an inch. In the present embodiment the steps are graduated in height and differ by .002 of an inch, the lowest step being preferably .900 of an inch in height and the highest step being .918 of an inch in height. An intermediate step will consequently be .910 and in practice the best results are found when the inking rollers are set so that the clearance is .910 of an inch above the bed of the press, that is, .008 of an inch lower than the type. This marking of the gauge is by way of example only since other desired markings may be employed.

In further carrying out the invention the stepped top face of the gauge is provided with a plurality of transversed grooves 18 which separate the steps or impression surfaces `17 and perform the twofold function 0f preventing ink from collecting in the corners between the steps and also defining the steps one from the other so that the designating numerals thereof may be at all times clearly discernible. It is obvious that .002 of an inch is difficult to distinguish so that by defining the impression surfaces from each other by grooves they will be set oft' clearly and distinctly so as to be easily identified.

In Figure 2, two positions of the inking roller 19 are shown and it will be observed, as indicated by the dot and dash line, that the clearance between the roller and the bed of the press is sufficient to coincide with the impression surface marked .910 in Figure 3, consequently at this setting of the inking roller, the roller will be in accurate adjustment to properly ink the type for best results.

In operation, assume that the gauges 14 are locked in the form or chase approximately ten to fifteen picas from the edge of the form. Then remove all the rollers from the press except one. Place the form in the press and clamp on to the bed. Put the press into motion and allow it to make two or three revolutions. Stop th-e press and inspect the gauges. Read the figure on the lowest step or impression surface that received ink. If the figure is .904, the roller is too low, and the necessary adjustments should be made to the journal box or bearing of the roller. If the figure is .916, the roller is too high, and the adjustment should be changed to bring the roller down. Next wash off the gauge and repeat the above operations until both gauges in the form register .910, that is, the impression surfaces so numbered are the lowest surfaces that receive ink. The roller now has the proper clearance above the bed of the press. The adjusted roller is now numbered to identify its position and removed from the press whereupon the above operations are repeated for each roller in turn.

From the above description it is thought that the construction and operation of my invention will be thoroughly understood without further explanation.

That is claimed is:

l. In a printing press, the combination with a type form and an inking roller, of a Vstepped gauge in the form adapted to be enthe top face steps progressively increasing in height and adapted to engage the roller to indicate the impression of the roller on the type.

4. In a printing press, a gauge for detery mining the impression of the inking roller, comprising a bar adapted to be locked in the type form and provided with steps of different heights and bearing designating indices, there being transversed grooves in the F Ybar separating the steps from each other.

5. A gauge for facilitating the adjusting of a printing press roller to proper position for inking, comprising a bar having parallel sides and a bottom perpendicular to the sides IOO whereby the bar may be locked in a type form no with the type, the top face of the bar being stepped to provide impression surfaces of different heights adapted to engage the roller to indicate the setting of the roller, there ber ing transversed grooves formed in the top face of the bar performing the dual function of separating the steps so that they may be more readily distinguished one from the other and also preventing ink collecting in the corners between the surfaces.

6. In any printing press printing direct from type, the combination with a cylindrical inking roller and a type form, of a stepped gauge locked in the form and adapted to en- A gage the roller to indicate the clearance between the roller and the bed of the printing press.

7 In a printing press, a type form, a gauge in the form laterally of .the type and having a stepped top face providing impression sur- EUGENE MEMMLER. [Ls] 

